Lion Colors
by Furstina
Summary: The Simba's pride is finding that more cats are appearing around Pride Rock. All these cats have strange colors in their coats and are slowly moving into the Pride's territory, bringing the two prides to the brink of war. *The cat's colors are completely made up and impractical in the wild. Also I'm rating this M just in-case, because I feel like this will border right on the line.
1. Prologue

"Daddy, daddy! You're back!" A young cub ran out of a small cove and pounced on his father. The older lion allowed his cub to tackle him, he looked up to see his mate, a pantheress, named Lindana. She had a black pelt with a white underbelly and white socks that reached from her knees down to her toes on all her legs. Large dark spots covered her whole body except her face. Her fluffy tail brushed the ground making a small cloud of dust rise.

"Mommy! Look daddy's home!" The cub bounced towards his mother, showing off his red tipped tail and black body that stuck out in the undergrowth near the den.

"I see that little one." She looked at her mate for a moment, "Badru, go get the thing you caught."

"Oh! Daddy you'll be so proud!" The cub raced into a small den hidden in the brush.

"Farijika... What did the leaders want?" Farijika hung his head. He looked at his mate fearing the difficult journey ahead of them. "They'll drive us out if we don't leave! Lindana... We have to go... tonight."

Lindana's eyes widened, and she glanced in the direction of the den. "They can't! They have no right! Badru is as much part of the pride as any pure lion cub!" Lindana's tears started to fall on the ground creating a small puddle. Farijika closed the distance between them and had her rest her head on him as she sobbed. "You have to make Faraji see reason. Please, Farijika!" the pantheress pleaded.

"I tried my love, I tried..." Farijika whispered back quietly watching the den.


	2. Chapter 1

"Father, where are we going today?" The young half lion asked as he ran to his father's side, atop a small ravine. The older lion got up from where he was sitting and greeted his approaching son.

"Badru, where have you been?" Farijika asked jokingly, watching how his son stopped to try and get the leaves and feather's from his fur.

"Usian and I were practicing hunting on flamingos."

"And how did that go?"

"Usian and I managed to catch one, we brought it to Kanena." Badru answered happily. Upon seeing his father's confused face he elaborated. "Kanena, Usian's mother? The silver lioness? Her mate is the tiger?" Farijika eventually nodded.

"Come on, we were asked to patrol... wait there should be one oth-" Just then a ball of fur tumbled down from the far side of the ravine. "Sorry, I'm late." Subira said getting to her feet.

Subira was part lion giving her pretty tan fur like her mother and another part tiger giving her silver stripes on her tail, hindquarters and back. The fur on her head was covered in dirt turning her normal silver, dusty brown. She bounded up the small hill and met us.

"Sorry, I'm covering for my dumb brother. He accidentally forgot about Mwasaa and is now making it up to her."

"He forgot her, today? or another time." I asked scared Usian was spending time with me instead of his girlfriend.

"Don't worry, he did it several times last week and planned to make it up to her today when he was suppose to be here." Subira assured me.

My father ignored our conversation and began the patrol waiting for us to catch up to him.

The three walked on the edge of a small ridge marking the edge of the Roulco Pride's territory. Badru and Subira were playing a bit as they walked. Pouncing at bugs and small animals, while Farijika carefully and slowly lead the way watching the horizon.

Badru looked out and stared into the grass. "Hey, father. Can I get your opinion on my stalking technique?"

"Hey me, too! Help me improve too!" The seasoned lion sighed and nodded, he was one of the best hunters in the sat down and watched as his son and the young lioness stalk into the tall grass.

Badru crouched and slowly moved forward until he saw some of the grass rustle in front of him. He nodded to Subira and she circled to flank the moving grass. The two approached the movement, Badru crouched and waited. He glanced over the grass before pouncing.

Someone shrieked and screamed. Farijika had moved from his spot and raced down to the young cats. He jumped down into where his son pounced.

Subira peaked over the top of the grass to see the two lions pinning another lion down. "Who is that?"

"What are you doing in our territory?" Farijika growled into the lioness' ear. The lioness struggled under the weight of the two lions. "Tell me! NOW!" He roared.

"Let me go!" The lioness yelled attempting to bite Badru. Subira stared at the lioness, "so what are you doing in our territory?"

"Your territory!?" She laughed, "this isn't your territory. This territory belongs to Simba." Badru shifted himself on the lioness and his father grabbed her by the scruff.

"You're going to be doing a lot of explaining." Farijika picked her up. Subira and Badru flanked the intruder when Farijika placed he down to escort her to our pride's cave.

The pride gathered and everyone watched as the patrol escorted a lioness into the camp. Subira ran ahead into the fern covered cave and into where the leaders slept.

The lioness was forced into the small cave and Farijika and a lion-cheetah – Azizi– walked to cover the possible exits.

Inside the cave Subira was speaking with her father, Moyo. Moyo stood threateningly over the young lioness. He puffed out his chest showing off his red stripes, from the rest of his black-gray coat. He approached the now cowering lioness. The lioness was fluffed up and was trying to act less afraid than she looked.

"I won't tell you anything!" she growled.

"We'll start with who you are." Moyo said, as his mate –Kanena– got up and shooed her daughter out of the den.

"Honey, we won't hurt you. We just need to know why you were on our territory." Kanena said sitting calmly in front of the lioness.

The lioness defuffed, a bit and sat down. "Haoniyao." She said.

"Haoniyao. What are you doing in the Roulco territory?"

"This isn't your territory, this is Simba's territory." The lioness –Haoniyao– growled out.

Badru sat outside and watched the fern cave that his father sat guarding.

"Hey! Dude!" he heard before being bowled over by a white and gray tiger-lion. Usian laughed and sat down as beige cheetah-tiger sat next to him.

"Hey, Mwasaa! Sorry I took him out play hunting this morning."

"Don't worry about it!" She laughed "It's his fault for constantly forgetting anyways." She smiled. "So what did you escort back."

"Yeah I heard you, your dad and sis escorted someone here." Usian said while he scratched behind his ear with a hind leg.

"I don't know who it was, they were claiming it wasn't our territory."

"I hope they're just lying to get out of this." Usian said calmly.

"But what if this really is part of their territory?" Mwasaa asked, "We had finally settled here."

"If this really is part of another pride's territory, they don't deserve it because we've been here for several dozen seasons." Usian said speaking like the future leader of our pride. "A pride that can't defend their territory properly doesn't deserve their territory." Badru watched his friend but made no comments as he glanced back at the cave where the lioness had been taken.


	3. Chapter 2

The sun moved across the sky and everyone got board of waiting for our leader to come out from the cave telling us what we would do with the intruder. However it was already sundown and no one had come out so everyone but the guards were doing various tasks.

Usian had gone off a while ago with Mwasaa, he was probably off showing her some place in the territory she hadn't discovered yet. Many of the cubs were herded away shortly after the intruder was escorted into the leader's den. Subira and I were asked to help gather grass for nests and entertain some of the older cubs, but every so often we would walk by the den and whisper about it.

Around dark several of the hunters came back into the pack's camp, the group of seven hauled in two wildebeests and another group brought a third wildebeest. The pride waited in a circle for our leaders.

My mother, limped to the fern-covered cave and entered. A moment later she reemerged with Kanene and the intruder walked out after them. Father, and Moyo followed up the rear and Azizi melted into the group from his guard spot to sit next to his daughter, Mwasaa.

Father helped my mother settle in and watched the intruder quietly from the corner of his eye. Moyo ans his mate, Kanene, sat tall in front of the whole pride. "Everyone! We have been presented with three wildebeest that our esteemed hunters have brought back to us!" All the hunters sat a little taller and one even craned his neck. "Also, a patrol brought an intruder to our camp. Since bringing her here we have learned of another pride in the nearby area. We'll take Haoniyao back home and speak with the pride's leader tomorrow. For now we will enjoy this meal!" Moyo closed his speech and many of the cubs ran forwards with several queens to take the first helpings.

I looked over to my parents. I saw Moyo whisper something to the intruder – Haoniyao, but my attention quickly snapped to my mother who had managed to lie down with her badly scarred leg. I was ready to rush over but I slowed when I thought how she would react.

"Mother... does your leg hurt?"

"No, it's simply more comfortable to lie down." I felt a looming presence behind me and spun to see father holding a good sized leg bone for mother and him to share.

"Don't worry too much, she was taking care of Elea. He wore her out."

"That ball of fur has even more energy than his brother."

I nodded and ran to the wildebeests to get my meal. I walked up seeing the young cub, Elea. He had long tuffed ears and a tan body stripped with light brown stripes all over his small tan body. His brother tried to keep him calm but he was bouncing up and down as he ate. _Clearly, he wasn't worn out enough._

I made my way to the pile of wildebeests and started to find a nice piece for myself. I finally found a tasty piece that was a good size when I noticed the intruder, Haoniyao, sitting at the edge of the clearing glazing hunger at the food. I tore off another piece and walked over to her.

Dropping one of the pieces at her feet, I settled and lay down near her. "Hi, sorry about pouncing on you so hard earlier. I hope you weren't hurt too badly."

She looked between me and the food I dropped and gingerly began to chew on the food. "I'm fine. Why are you over here shouldn't you be over..." She looked around at the different families in the pride and their many pelts and intermixed species. She looked back at me before she attempted to finish her sentence. "...with your family."

"You don't understand our pride do you." I said looking out at the many cats lounging with various others.

"I just don't understand how you can mix like this... it just so..."

"Wrong?"

She closed her mouth. "I was going to say unnatural."

"I know we're strange but we did manage to carve out a living together. We take care of and defend each other. And isn't that the most important part about being a pride?"

She looked away as she quietly finished her meal.

Mwasaa bounded up to us, unabashed by the others in the pride casting weary glances at us. "Hey, so you're Haoniyao. I know you must come from another pride, so what's it like?" Mwasaa asked eagerly as she sat.

Haoniyao just gazed at Mwasaa unable to place her. Mwasaa was a beige cat with lovely tan spots. She exhibited more tiger structural features than Cheetah. She had a powerful rounded face like her father, and a sturdy body of a tiger. However, her body was longer and thinner than a normal tiger.

"I... um..." she stared hard at Mwasaa, furrowing her brow. "Um, what are you?"

"Me? I'm special right?" I rolled my eyes and waited as she spun to show off. "I'm a tiger-cheetah!"

"Really? You're a... mix?" Haoniyao asked slowly.

"Actually, we're all mixes. And she's more of a mix than most of us." I said pointedly as I motioned with my tail.

"Shush, Badru! I'm a tiger-cheetah." She said covering my mouth with her tail. "Sooo, back to you. What's it like to be in your Pride? Is it like ours, probably not but... Are there any color coats? Are you all lions? Do you have any other species in your pride? Oh, do any have unique features? Are their any cute cats?" Mwasaa asked excitedly, waving her tail in my face and tickling my nose.

"Um... no?" she asked confused.

"Mwasaa, too many questions at once. Give her a chance to breath." I told her as I trapped her tail. Just then her father approached our group. He walked up behind Mwasaa before nudging her.

"Come on, Mwasaa. We should do a perimeter check before going to sleep." He said with a deep slow voice.

"Sure, daddy!" She waved to us before jumping up and running to her father. "byyye." When she arrived next to him they walked off.

"So... Haoniyao...?" I turned back to Haoniyao but found she had left. Looking around I saw her with Moyo. She was escorted to a cave and left while another member watched the entrance.

I sighed leaving it alone and making my way to my family's nest. Mother was waiting for me and father was already asleep in the nest. "Honey, please don't get involved with purebreed pride members." She whispered gently as I walked to my nest. "I love you dear, good night." She kissed my head and lay down in her nest with father.


	4. Chapter 3

Haoniyao POV

"I don't understand your pride, sir Moyo. I.."

"Please, silence. In the morning we'll escort you to your pride and leader and I can talk." I opened my mouth to protest but several cats pushed their way into the cave. One was larger than the other two. He had a powerful face and a yellow-beige mane and orange body like something a lion would have but he was speckled with brown spots covering his body.

The second one was also male but he was much smaller than the one before him. He had a lithe tanned body like any other normal cat except for deep green stripes and his black underbelly.

The final one was female. She had a black pelt and large dark spots covering her body, white underbelly and socks stood out in the darkness.

"Stay here," He turned to the three who entered the den, "Keep her here and don't let her go anywhere without an escort."

They nodded and Moyo left. The female slowly made her way in front of the other and told them to guard outside and rest. She was going to be inside. The two males exchanged looks, and the bigger one left. The smaller one stayed. "I don't think you should stra-"

"Hush, Kiama. I'll be fine. If I need help you'll be at the only exit." The one named Kiama, narrowed his eyes before slowly leaving. "I'll come back and check on you." He said over high shoulder.

The she-cat moved slowly forward, sitting in front of me.

I looked her up and down. She moved stiffly and seemed tired. As she moved I caught sight of a large scar on her right flank in the sensitive muscle leading to the leg. _I could probably take her if I needed. What are these cats thinking keeping such an injured cat around?_

"It'll be a while until morning," she said gently, "you should sleep." Watching her suspiciously I rested my face on my paws. She just watched quietly. I pretended to stay awake and eventually closed my eyes.

The female's eyes bore into me the whole time but once she thought my breathing evened out she left. I heard the voices outside of the cave as they planned shifts to watch me.

The two males were both trying to convince the female to go and sleep.

"You shouldn't have agreed to watch the female, Lindana." one of the males said, he had a low but soft voice.

"If you ask me Moyo shouldn't have agreed to let you to begin with." a younger voice muttered with clear ire in his voice.

"But he did, now please-"

"Why did you even want to be out here?!" the young voice commented angerly.

"I needed to see the purebred up close."

 _Pure breed? Me?_ I thought as I quietly moved to look around the small cave.

"Why do you even care." The low voice asked gently. Movement caught my attention and I froze.

With the movement I noticed a small light coming into the cave from a small hole between the rocks. _Maybe..._

"-You're exhausted and..." their conversation returned me back to the cave and I quickly glanced back at them.

"You can say it, Chane. Disabled." the female shot back. I internally winced at the tone. "And I helped train you both! So don't give me that 'injured and weak' excuse!"

I turned back to the small hole between the rocks. I had to gather more information on this invading pride. I'm sure Simba or Kiara will just have them leave if they pose a threat.

I reached out to the hole and managed to move some of the rocks. Ignoring my guard's conversation, I kept working.

The hole wasn't very big still but it was a good start. I sighed. This was exhausting work. Internally I wished I had claws better suited to the task.

Suddenly, I felt all the rocks shift at once. Right as that happened I found myself pressed flat into the side of the wall. A weight on my back kept me pinned and eventually it had me flat in the dirt.

I glanced up to see the gold eyes practically glowing with anger. "What do you think you're doing?!" The male hissed each word out through bared teeth.

"I uh, I wasn't."

"Save it! I don't like your kind, and giving me excuses would just make me angrier."

"Kiama, please release her." My gaze quickly sought out the source of the voice and landed on the black pelted she-cat. The male just growled at the female but didn't make attempts to move. In fact I think he actually shifted some of his weight to the back of my neck.

"Kiama." The female said again. "She wouldn't have gotten far and if she did we'd catch her in no time."

"Lindana, you seem to be under the impression that we would notice her leave."

The powerful looking male stepped in. "Kiama, we all heard the rocks shifting. They were put there to see what she would do."

Kiama kept his teeth bared but slowly got off me. _Definitely dangerous._ The female walked to the one named Kiama pushing him out of the small cave. When they got outside I could hear them softly arguing outside the entrance. The male left just eyed me, but didn't say anything.

I quickly lay down and put my head on my paws. _They're all more powerful than they pretend._ I thought as I waited for sleep to take me from my uncomfortable situation.

I woke up to someone jabbing me. Still groggy I slowly blinked awake, to find a tan tiger-like face greeting me.

"Ah!" I cried out in shock. Suddenly awake and alert I scrambled to my feet and bared my teeth at the unfamiliar face.

"Mwasaa!" A low panicked voice shouted as the big powerful male cat from last night burst into the small area. In the light it was easier to make out the powerful face that was a combination of leopard and lion features.

Looking around I quickly remembered last night and the fact I wasn't home.

The massive male spoke softly to Mwasaa. As she waved her paw dismissively while she insisted she was fine.

"Alright. Please get someone to tell me when you leave. Ok?" The male said worriedly, "Mwasaa!" He snapped. Mwasaa jerked back to meet his face, giving him a small roll of her eyes she nodded and wished him luck. The male left the cave and I was alone with Mwasaa.

"Good morning!" she said unfazed by anything that just happened.

"Yeah... um good morning." I eyed her expecting her to say something. "Um, why are you here, waking me?"

"Oh that! I just wanted to see you and ask you some questions about your pride." She said while nudging me out the entrance. "That, and Lindana looked sick so Kiama took her to be looked at. Also he was in a bad mood. What did you do to piss him off so much anyways? Ok so not as important, he's kind of easy to piss off. Anyways Kiama was pissed and Lindana needed a break. I was getting ready to see you anyways. Did I mention I had questions for you?" The she-cat rambled as she walked me randomly around the camp.

I was quickly getting lost trying to follow her so I observed the residents as Mwasaa wondered through the camp.

A small cub brought a flower to very pregnant she-cat. Several cats of various sizes were chatting with each other. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small group leaving the camp.

"We're here!" Mwasaa said loudly. "And for the record you never answered any of my questions."

Looking in front of my I saw the silver lioness from yesterday. She was with a young silver and white tiger that seemed to have silver fur growing under his neck as the start of a mane.

"Good morning!" Mwasaa said lower her head slightly as she greeted the silver lioness. I quietly noted that this she-cat seemed to be Moyo's, this pride's leader, mate.

I lowered my head too, trying to be respectful.

The lioness turned to the young male. "Your father has patrols and other things that he must do today and I need to help the queens with the cubs. I need you to escort her to her Pride.

"You will probably have to speak with their leader. We don't have many members so please only take two or three other members to help you escort her. Do you think you can handle this Usian?"

"Yes, mother." The young half lion responded.

"Just so you know, Usian, I'm going to follow your group even if I'm not invited." Mwasaa chipped in. Usian turned to her, and she just gave him a cute smile.

"Is sis, still here?"

"I'm afraid she left with a hunting group." The silver lioness slowly left.

"I wonder who else we can take." Mwasaa said, "Oh, Kiama and Badru... I'll go check!" Mwasaa dashed off as the young leader waited and watched me.

Looking at the young leader, Usian, I couldn't see anything that resembled this pride's current leader Moyo. They also looked vastly different; Moyo was a big ash colored tiger with deep red stripes. And this half lion was white with silver stripes on his hind legs, back legs and tail. Where Moyo practically commanded obedience with his presence, this one was young and too eager to please.

Mwasaa bounded back towards us letting herself slide the last bit of the way on the lose dirt. "So Kiama says he doesn't want to go and Farijika is gone so Lindana needs Badru."

Tuned out most of Mwasaa's story waiting to see who it was that would join this party. I started to wonder when I would get back. _I wonder how badly my mother will react? Will_ _ _Kiara_ be mad... Or will it be Malkia's decisi-_

"-Anyways." Mwasaa cut into my thoughts. "Badru seemed too busy so I had Kiama come with us."

"Alright." Usian said in an attempt to sound older and possibly wiser than he was. He nudged me to stand and he and Mwasaa guided me out of their camp.


End file.
